Battling Nature (Part 1): Genetic Possibilities

Age spots were the last things Linda Walsh wanted to see developing on her feet and legs three years ago. Just 42 years old, her hair was also beginning to fall out, her joints were increasingly stiff and she was constantly fatigued.

Today the Southern California resident's skin is blemish-free, and her hair is as lustrous and full as it has ever been. She's healthy and active, running her growing business. Walsh said that she owes the turnaround to antioxidant supplements and the specialized skincare products she religiously lathers all over her face and body.

As more Americans such as Walsh join the ranks of the aging population, they're finding that staying forever young isn't always as simple as taking a few pills and smearing on special lotions. Geneticists say that's because the cause of aging goes much deeper, all the way into the core of the body's cells -- the genes -- the blueprint of human life, which dictates how people grow, develop and age.

With the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this summer reporting that Americans are now living an average of 30 years longer than they did in 1900, the thought of increasing human life expectancy may no longer be a fantasy.

"There are lots and lots of genes that can make a difference in how we age and how long we live," said Dr. George Martin, adjunct professor of genetics at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle.

For the last 10 years, Martin has been studying Werner's syndrome, a disease that causes people to develop symptoms of aging as early as age 20. Persons with the syndrome develop gray hair, osteoporosis, heart disease and diabetes, symptoms that mirror the health of an aging person.

In 1996, Martin and his colleagues in laboratories around the world isolated the cause: a gene they call recQ, mutated so that it no longer works to support the cell's gene-maintenance machinery. When the machine slows down, the person affected begins to display the signs of premature aging.

Martin points out that because an alteration in a gene causes symptoms of aging, physicians might someday be able to target certain genes to slow the aging process.